Expected
by Orokid
Summary: He's sick and tired of doing what's expected from him. He's done appeasing fans, and he's over trying to please his girlfriend. He knows who he wants, but... perhaps his revelation has taken him too long.


_SincereHeartache: Hello, all! It's been a long while since I've actually written anything, and I'm a bit surprised that I finally finished one of my MANY unfinished fanfictions. It makes me feel happy nonetheless, although it does make me a little self-conscious about the quality of the work. The first page was entirely written by hand, while the others were written as I sat down at the computer after typing out the first part. To add on to my self-consciousness, I'm a bit sleepy due to the fact that I haven't had a particularly great (let alone somewhat okay) sleep schedule over the past week- although many a person has told me that it sometimes makes me write (or do whatever I'm doing, like acting) better than I usually do. I'm hopeful that's the case with this as well, although I admittedly tend to get a tad bit random when I'm tired as Hell._

_That aside, I think it looks good, even if I didn't beta it at all. Too lazy. Too tired. Sorry guys._

_To add on before I forget, I DO know that JK Rowling ends the book with particular couplings. The thing is- I don't particularly care. I have my own likes and dislikes, and my two favorite characters just happen to end up with two of my least favorite. It figures, right? Yeah… That's what fanfiction is for, although this story does have elements from the last book- aka a certain relationship that I don't really like, but can somewhat live with if I have to._

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with Harry Potter. I am a mere fan that makes no money off of my stories, so there's no use to sue me. Sorry to break it to you lawyer's out there in need of a good criminal!_

_X3 I'm a dork… And I'm in my hyper-tired mode. That's bad…_

_Moving on… Story time!!_

**Expected**

Harry wasn't sure how long he would be able to take it anymore, slowly crumbling beneath the pressures of being whom the world thought him to be. He was expected to sit there and smile whenever his name was slandered across the headlines about one thing or another. He was expected to uphold peace and justice even after his job of savior from the Dark Lord was over and done with. He supposedly wanted to join any chapter of the aurors because that was what he was thought to do. Most of all, he was supposed to be the man that his girlfriend though him to have been throughout the years that they had spent in the same school, together but separated by the person he had been made into by the magazines and newspapers of the wizarding world.

Out of all of the things that were expected of him, the final one seemed to be the hardest of them all. At every turn that he made, it was becoming far too obvious over their increasing arguments that he wasn't what she had expected out of him. Each time that he found himself comfortable around her, he once in a while forgot to be the complete gentleman he was thought to be. Their oddest fight had been over the fact that he had fallen asleep on the Weasley's family couch after an extremely trying day dealing with merely walking amongst the wizards and witches that had only heard of the bravery through what the two-faced Daily Prophet wrote about him, and he had done the one thing that no one believed the young hero to do- he snored. She had awoken him from the start of his pleasant dream of a land far from England, where his face and name wasn't as well-known, and begun to start on him over his one of many imperfections. His tone had begun to raise as her chiding became a duel of words between the two of them, and their voices had eventually grown to shouting. He tried to listen to her, to the reasons for his distaste for his unknown-to-the-media attitude, and he attempted with all his might not to act in a way that others thought him to so not to force their already unhappy conversation to further uncomfortable bounds. Even after he had been caught and accused, he wasn't willing to walk away from the person who was causing such an uproar over such a meaningless thing.

And he couldn't walk away because he knew that there were hundreds of more witches in the world who would see him the exact same that Ginny saw him- the one who had lived through the Dark Lord's attack as an infant, the one who had gone up against the evil overlord several times throughout his years as a student, and the one who had finally destroyed the cause to the many murders that had plagued both the wizarding and muggle communities since the snake-like villain had taken up his tyranny. No woman he had met could look beyond the hero he had been made into by the press, and the one thing he feared the most was the live alone- much like he had been raised as in the household that he had hated, despised with a passion, throughout his childhood. Back then, he had been left without a friend, a confidant, until…

Until he had met the two people who had drastically changed his lonely existence into a strangely fun and worthwhile experience. In the end, there really was only one witch who didn't seem to mind his differences, who laughed with him as the news caught him in a behavior that didn't fit the image that had been created of him, and there were days that he found himself wishful of an easy lifestyle without the woes he had been cursed with since his infancy, living and loving with that particular woman at his side- but he would usually push those thoughts away and child himself for thinking the way he had. In the many years that the three of them had been friends, it had become apparent in his eyes that there were things that one just did not hope for- especially if that meant that it might break the bond that he held with his two close friends.

Especially if those two particular friends just happened to be in a seemingly happy relationship.

In the eyes of many a person, he could tell that the romance between the two people who knew him in and out was probably the strongest and weakest of any of the relationship. They cared so deeply for one another, would happily give their lives for their lover's, but they also pinpointed their partner's weaknesses and oftentimes used such a thing against the other. He had sat in many an argument that had started so foolishly over the littlest of things, merely minding his own business after having learned the hard way to keep out of his friends' affairs, listening to the two of them verbally rip each other to shreds. More times than not, he was staring his red-headed friend down as he watched the man leave, slamming a door behind him in hopes to let off an inch of steam, and the dark hair wizard would take his bushy haired friend into his arms and try to calm her tears the best he could. In the end, he knew that it could have been seen as choosing sides, although it rarely was pointed out to him unless his male friend was determined to win whatever squabble the couple had gotten into- although that usually made the green eyed young man more determined to stand his ground and show the other in any way possible what was going on, and hopefully ease the storm. He'd watch with a smile as his friends would rekindle the flame, and they'd always turn and thank him for his efforts, but…

There were times where it was hard to tell if he wanted them to stay together because he was afraid of them losing the best thing for them, or afraid that he might lose the only people who understood him the best. At times, he would push down the ache he would get whenever it would appear within his chest, begging for attention from the supposed hero when he should be joyful for his friends.

Biting his bottom lip, the scarred young man took a sip of the fire whiskey that he had ordered, thinking back to the look in the eyes of the one who still seemed to make him feel the way that he had been certain his girlfriend would. He put the glass back down on the table he sat at, running a hand through his dark hair as he tried to put his thoughts together, to understand why a painful sensation had begun to shoot through the area around his heart whenever he would watch his friends, the couple, make up after having turned to him for strength. He tried his hardest to understand why he couldn't seem to get the same amount of feeling whenever the woman he was supposed to love and adore was liking him to news articles, to the man he was supposed to be. There seemed to be no answer to either, and that information seemed to eat at him more than anything else had in his life. He couldn't understand how there could be so many questions, and yet there weren't any answers to the things that he wanted to know the most.

"Damn it all," the young man muttered into his glass as he took another sip, grumbling under his breath as he fought with his demons quietly, not wanting yet another facet of his true personality to reach the nosey know-it-all reporters that didn't seem to have a care over if they were reporting the truth or not. For all he knew, they were going to publish a story the next morning about how he had gone crazy after the war with the evil force of He-Who-Must-Be-Named, suffering from what many a muggle might term as post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the terror of war. That was the last thing he needed.

"Harry?"

The sound of her voice caused his heart to race, and he felt his hand tighten around his glass so not to show the ache that was written on his sleeve. He bit down on his lower lip, using the pain to reign in the emotions that he seemed to be unable to control all that well under the slight influence of alcohol, before turning to look at the person that stood behind him.

No matter how he might try, he couldn't stop his ill-forgotten organ from thumping painfully hard within his chest. She had just come in to the pub, and he could tell from the fact that her hair was slightly matted down against her shoulders due to the rain that had been pouring just outside the door. The young woman had a small knowing smile upon her lips, shaking out the muggle umbrella that she couldn't dare to get rid of even after all of the years that she had spent in the wizarding world, but he couldn't help but find her habits endearing.

"I heard what happened from Ron," the woman offered, setting herself down in the space across from him, staring him down with her kind yet piercing eyes. He took a sip of his beverage, watching her back with an annoyed gaze as he grunted at the other man's name, unsure if he was doing that so to answer her or because he already felt disgusted by it. A part of him couldn't help but think that it was a little of both things, and he grumbled to himself as he took another drink. "You and Ginny had a fight."

"How long did it take to figure that one out, eh?" he muttered to her, his voice course after the many drinks that he had taken throughout the evening. All in all, he had lost count hours ago, and he definitely wasn't going to wrack his brain attempting to figure out how many glasses of the strong booze he had had since arriving there. "Or did dear ol' Ronny-kins hear that from that little-"

"Harry." She was using her stern voice, the one that she used when she knew that he was probably still in reach of his sanity even after his long journey with alcohol. Plus, she probably believed that he'd regret what he was saying if he even remembered what he was muttering about the woman. "She just… doesn't understand. She doesn't understand yet that you're just as human as her."

"It's been over a year, 'Mione," the young man countered, setting the glass down with a harder hand. "And that's been since we got back together. I've tried, 'Mione, I have, but… if she doesn't get it yet-"

"Give her time."

Time. It figured that was what she would ask of him after all of the years that they had been together. That was what they had played with when they had rescued his godfather from the death eaters, when they had fixed the mistakes that they could handle through the time turner- but this was entirely different from that particular adventure they shared. He couldn't quite slip himself back a few years and break the news early that he wasn't anything like what she imagined him to be, and that it would be easier to be with someone else if all he was going to be for her was an idolization of a hero he could never be. If he could, then he'd also like to make himself realize that there was someone else- someone that was probably out of his league just the same- that would accept him for who he was, and would never judge against him the things that he couldn't help.

But, then again, there was no such a chance, and there he was, being asked to give something he couldn't offer. "I gave her enough. I'm not what she wants, nor who she thought I was. That's all." He took a small sip of his drink, turning to look at the wall instead of the eyes of the woman that had seated herself across from him, not wanting her to see the things that was going through his eyes.

A silence enveloped the two, and the bartender that had been serving him came with yet another drink for him to drown himself in. The entire time, he could feel the gentle yet knowledgeable eyes of the woman who had caught him so entirely that he was afraid to meet her chocolate colored orbs, not wanting her to see any of the things that he had been hiding. Finally, the silence was broken with words that he didn't expect.

"Ron… He asked me to marry him last night."

The dark haired wizard looked up, looking at her with both fear and uncertainty, not sure how to react to such news after all of the thoughts that he had been having. For nearly a year, he had felt the odd warmth within his chest whenever he held her in his arms, as well as the sting that settled in whenever he watched the two of his friends match up once again after having been feuding for a few days on end. Each time, both seemed to grow in size, and the heat and pain, the tenderness and anguish, that had grown in his heart had become much more than he had been willing to admit whenever the woman returned to the arms of her beloved. His hand tightened around the glass that he held, inhaling as he watched her with as unemotional a face as he could keep. "What was your answer?"

"I…" The emerald eyed man felt himself swallow down his nervousness, or at least attempting to do so, listening carefully to what she would say. What would he do if she had disagreed to the wishes of the one who had asked such a question of her? Would he take her into his arms, profess the things that he had kept secret over the years so to keep her from returning to the one who had hurt her time and again with his words alone? Or would he keep silent, afraid to tell her so that she may grow distant in the weeks after sharing his deepest secret? And what would he do if she had accepted? He… He honestly didn't know. "I told him that I would be happy to be his wife."

"Oh." In a sudden moment, the anguish that he had felt up until that moment in time seemed to have grown ten times worse than it ever had been. Any wound he had ever incurred over the years that led up to the war returned to his body, forcing him to recall all of the things that he had forced himself to forget. Tears brimmed at his eyes, although he held them down as he put up a brave face before the one who had told him the things that he was the most fearful of- losing her forever. The young man took a long drink from his glass, pausing as he came near to the bottom, unable to take in any more liquor than he already had. Putting his glass down, he gave her a smile that would have won an award, grinning through the pain that coursed through his very being at the knowledge of what would eventually occur. "I'm happy for you." He was lying through his teeth, although no one would know after all of the practice he had gotten over the years when he attempted to hide his worries from both friend and foe. "You guys deserve it."

The woman smiled in return, although there was an underlying truth in her gaze that he couldn't quite understand. He supposed that she could read him better than any book that she may have gotten her hands on over the years that they had known each other, although she didn't say a word to him about it.

After all, he was merely doing what was expected of him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_SincereHeartache: So… what do you think? Please tell me!! I'd love to hear your responses about it._

_To anyone curious to why I wrote something like this, it's because I've been through a really bad relationship recently, and the person happened to be in love with someone else the day after they broke up with me. *Grumbles* I admit that I've had romance drama on the mind for the past couple of months. That aside, I sort of wanted to show someone who was in love with a certain person, only they loved someone else. A triangle, my favorite shape in stories._

_With love to readers and reviewers, S.H.-- me. X3_


End file.
